Need Advice Glass Bedding a Winchester M70

I am replacing the stock on my pre-í64 Winchester Model 70 30-06. I bought a wood laminate stock that required a little in-letting and fitting and I want to bed it to make sure it has a solid fit. I have done a bunch of research on the process. I am not sure what to do about the barrel lug (if that is what itís called). As you can see from the photo, there is a band around the barrel with a screw fitting that helps secure the barrel to the stock. If this was any other rifle, I would bed the receiver and free-float the entire barrel.

My current thought is to bed everything from the receiver to the barrel band and let it free-float the rest of the way. Thatís how it sat on the previous stock. But then my question is, should I put any pressure on that screw or should I let the barrel find its natural position within the bedding material? I could then screw it down after the bedding material cured.

Another option would be to simply create an island of bedding material for that barrel band and let the rest of the barrel float. That still raises the question of screw tension.

And yet another option would be to ignore the band, ignore the screw and let the entire barrel free-float. Iím sure the gun wonít fall apart if I leave out that screw.

Since this is my first attempt at doing something like this, I thought I would get some other opinions. Iíve done a lot searching on the net, but couldnít find much info. I hope someone here has done this before on a Model 70.

You cut off the right hand side of the image... Turn the action so one can see underneath all the way back to the tang. It looks like you just have a small area for bedding behind the recoil lug. Curious what you have back at the tang.

BTW, insert the action screws so one can see where it is going to be held down too.

I would not be inclined to bed that ring, it is too far forward of the action to do anything good...

I think with actions with so little bearing area (from what I can see) one would have better success if you could make a 1/8" thick aluminum bedding block that fits the action precisely and then epoxy that into the stock. That would reduce the direct bearing load on the wood and make the performance more repeatable.

Imo leave the front ring free and see how it shoots . As for bearing surface you have a great action for holding bedding. If this is your first bedding job I would bed from the front of the magazine to about an 1 1/2 " down the barrel and at the back of the action around the tang and rear action screw.
The guy telling you you need an aluminum bedding block either doesn't have a clue about bedding a model 70 or any rifle for that matter or he's selling costom aluminum bedding blocks. The '06 is a mild round that is not hard on bedding and a model 70 holds a bed better than most. Take your time , use hand tools and enjoy your project. No power tools unless you are really good with them. You can make a mess of a stock in the blink of an eye with the dremel tool.

DaveinJax, I related what a well known gunmaker actually did on their "top of the line" factory rifle with a flat action. Not speculation. Opinions are a dime per dozen.

There is no doubt that flat bottomed actions are trickier to bed than cylindrical ones. Part of that is because a flat bottomed / square sided action does not "nest" well (very good location vertically but poor laterally) and partly because the way it is cut the actual surface area for bedding is quite restricted. Some custom actions resolve this issue by using hexagonal or octagonal stock which allows enough "draw" to let the action come free of the bedding material after its sets up.

I have built a lot of precision fixtures for a living and the only time you can get good location out of flat things is with 2 dowel holes.. Whereas V blocks give you constraint in 2 axis right away.

The OP is clearly within his rights to do this job however he wants. I am also not selling anything. I just happen to own an Icon.

And that aluminum bedding block for that pre 64 Winchester is going to cost a mint if it is going to be anywhere close of as good a fit as impression molded in devcon steel. That was made long before CNC milling machines and each one was hand finished by humans. There is a gracious plenty of a recoil lug to hold that 30-06.
PS ; there is another good reason not to buy an Icon , no recoil lug. I didn't know they skipped the recoil lug on Icons .

Oh , l happen to own a couple of m70's that I bedded so I'm not just relating what I heard about another type of rifle.

If you read what was in the image posted, they have 3 recoil lugs, matched to the bedding block. The recoil lug is only there to constrain 1 axis, one needs more than that for a good bedding job. Usually the fit of the cylindrical action in the bedding constrains the other 2, but not available in this design.

And that relates how to a model 70 ? The only reason icons need a metal block to hold them from looking at the picture is that it's going in a cheap plastic noodle stock. The original poster is bedding a model 70 with what is really a generous recoil lug into a relatively strong laminate stock.